Monday, October 3, 2011

Blog 7 (EXTRA) - Radiohead

Radiohead - 
The King of Limbs

Radiohead recently did a full hour special on The Cobert Report.  My husband and I are long time fans of the band and get all of our fake news from The John Stewert Show and The Cobert Report.  The real stuff brings me to tears...  Anyway, I enjoyed listening to their music but especially loved hearing about their personal views on environmental issues and corporate sponsorship.  I think there are speaking out try to help us understand the evils of unchecked capitalism and the damage we are doing to our earth.  Maybe some listeners with heed the message.

I was very attracted to this CD jacket.  It is eerie and it has an other-worldly feel.  I looked up the designer on the internet to see his motivation of the artwork. [wikipedia]  Here is what I found:

Artist Stanley Donwood stated that the album's artwork is inspired by Northern European fairy tales and their association with forests and woods: "It's very much about natural forms. I'd heard something about the northern European imagination, in the all our fairy stories and mythical creatures, they all come from the woods - Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel & Gretel [...]  Me and Thom Yorke [sic] were working on these ideas of strange, multi-limbed creatures that are neither malevolent or benevolent, they're simply there, part of the living spirit of the forest. That's come through into all of the work.

This piece reminds me of the monsters that used to live under my bed as a child: nondescript, blob-like, big-eyed, with long slimy limbs.  It does appear that these creatures are appearing from the woods; you can see the trees plastered (as a part of) their bodies.

The colors used are captivating: the limbs are a sickening, slimy red, the eyes glow yellow, the darker blues,  greens, & black which create depth. The brightness of the yellow creature pulls you into the piece and you have to look closer.  

The text treatment is also very interesting,  The white lettering is obscured but the overlay of branches - a play on the title The King of Limbs.  The type is a simple san-serif font.  Well-chosen, I believe, anything too busy would distract from the image.

I believe this is a highly effective work and it is done beautifully.  It is unified through the texture that runs throughout the piece even into the text.  Gestalt theory definitely plays a role here in that initially the large creatures pull us into the image and then as we look closer we see all of the texture that contributes to the unity of the piece.  

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Limbs_Packaging_and_artwork

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